Fig. 164.—Winged-globe and asps, Egyptian Symbolic ornament.
Fig. 165.—Symbolic ornament, the Egyptian lotus and water.
in importance to the lotus came the palm as a symbolical plant; this was used by the Assyrians in their bas-reliefs. It was, when surrounded by the sacred hom, called the “tree of life” ([Fig. 166]). The date-palm is here surrounded by the sacred hom, which grew on the slopes of the Hindoo Kush, and was the plant from which inebriating drink was first
Fig. 166.—Sacred tree of life or hom (British Museum), from an Assyrian bas-relief.
made by the Aryans. The date-palm was certainly the tree of life to Eastern nations, affording them food, alcoholic drink,[8] and shelter. Many animals, birds, and hybrid creations, such as the Egyptian sphinx and the winged bull of Assyria, had symbolical meanings.